Change-speed apparatus.



PATENTBD NOV. 12, 1907.

A. SAUER.

CHANGE SPEED APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JARBI, 1907.

R A ME T R E B L m A TTOHNE Ys UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ADELBERT SAUER, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

CHANGE-SPEED .APPARATUB.

' nsfamae'r.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 12, 1907.

application filed Janusryl31,1907| Serial No. 855,037;

To alhahom it may concern: ,I Be it known that I, ADELBERTSAUER, acitizen of the United States, and a resident of Pittsburg, in the countyof Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have driven shaft may be changedat will relative to the,

. speed of the motor shaft; and a special feature of the invention isthe provision of improved means for adjusting the gears, as may berequired, to take up wear or compensate for imperfectionsorirregularities in the bearings.

The details of construction are as hereinafter described and illustratedin the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is in part a plan viewand in part a horizontal section of my improved apparatus. Fig. 2' is atransversevertical-section on the line 22 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a similarsection on the line 33 of Fig. 1. Fig.4 is a view illustrating a portionof the apparatus. Fig. 5 is a transverse section illustrating amodification. The numeral 1 indicates a driving shaft which is connectedwith a motor 2 of any suitable kind. Said shaft has its bearing inframes or rigid supports 5.

4 indicatesa driven shaft which is alined with the driving shaft 1,their ends being juxtaposed, and the same has its bearing in thehorizontal frames or supports 5 which are spaced apart.

3 and 3* indicate two smaller, countershafts which are arranged onopposite sides of and parallel to the two alined main shafts 1 and 4 andspaced therefrom. Uponeach of these shafts 3, 3, intermediate-of theframes or supports 5, are mounted and keyed a large gear and a smallergear. Those applied to the shaft 3 are indicated by numerals 6 and 7,and those applied to shaft 3* are indicated by 6 and 7, correspondingly.

Intermediate of the two large gears 6 and 6 is arranged a smaller gear8, the same being mounted and keyed on the drivingshaft 1; andintermediate of the smaller gears 7, 7*, is arranged a large gear 8*,the same being mounted and keyed upon thedriven shaft 4. It will nowbeapparent that rotary motion being communicated to the driving shaft 1,the two larger gears 6 and 6' will be driven from the smallerintermediate one 8, and therefore the smaller gears 7, 7, will be drivenalso, .so that they will rotate the intermediatelarger gear 8 andthereby rotate the driven shaft 4. It is apparent that, since the gears6, 6, are larger than the engaging gea'r'8 on the driving'shaft, thecountershafts 3, 3, will be driven at a greatly reduced speed;

but, since the gears 7, 7' on the counter shafts are much smaller thanthe gears 6, 6, and engage a much larger gear 8 on the shaft 4, thelatter will be driven at a much slower speed than the motor shaft. Bychanging the relative size or diameter of one set of gears, or both setsof gears, it is obvious that any desired change may be made in the speedat which the shaft 4 will be driven. Thus, by the application of suchgears the apparatus may be organized for driving any machinery at anyrequired speed, from a primary motor or driver. a

For this purpose it is proposed thatthe several gears shall be soattached to their respective shafts that they may be readily detachedand others substituted therefor.

In the drawing I have shown friction gears throughout, the same workingin contact with each other .in a well known manner; but it is to beunderstood that I propose to employ toothed gears as a substitutetherefor when preferred.

I have made special provision for adjusting the gears that work incontact,.for the purpose of taking up wear and preventing back-lash andcompensating for irregularities or imperfections in the bearings, sothat the several gears shall coact in the best manner and work togetherwith the required degree of friction. To these ends I arrange thecountershafts 3, 3, eccentrically in bushings, or rotatable bearingcylinders, 9 and 9", the former, 9, being applied to the shaft 3, andthe latter, 9*, to the shaft 3. These bushings 9, 9, are journaled andadapted to rotate in bearings provided in the frames 5. Upon each of theleft-hand bushings 9, 9, shown in Fig. 1, I mount worm gears 10 and 10,respectively, and key them to the bushings 9 and 9, respectively, asshown in Fig. 2, so that the bushings and worm gears always revolvetogether, the shafts 3, 3", being, however, loose and thus adapted torotate in the bushings. A small rotary horizontal shaft 11 is mountedrotatably in bearings 12 attached to the frame 3 and is provided withtwo worms 12 and 12, one engaging the worm gear 10 and the otherengaging the worm gear 10*, as shown in Fig. 2. On one end of the shaft11 is mounted a hand-wheel 13 for convenience in rotating the shaft. Itwill now be' apparent that, by rotating the shaft 11 in one direction,the eccentric bushings 9, 9, will be rotated simultaneously and therebythe shafts 3, 3, will either be brought nearer each other or separatedmore widely, and thus a corresponding change will be made in thecontacts of the gears of the two series. In the position in which thebushings and shafts are shown in Fig. 2,,the rotation of the worm shaft11 in either direction will bring the shafts 3, 3", nearer each otherbecause they are shown separated at the greatest distance possible.

It is obvious that the worms 12, 12, must be opposite each other, thatis to say, one right-hand and the other left, in order to adapt them tooperate in the manner described. In Fig. 5, 1 show? a modification inwhich a shaft 11 is provided with worms 12 which are simi-. lar, thatis-to say, run in the same direction, and the gears 10 which they engageare of course correspondingly constructed. This arrangement is madepossible by arranging the bushings on the shafts 3, 3, so that theireccentric portions shallp'roject in opposite directions, say one up andthe other down as shown.

What I claim is The combination, with a driving shaft a driven shaft.alined therewith, countershafts on opposite sides of these two shaftsand gears of different diameters which operatively connect the severalshafts as described, of rotatable eccentric bearings for thecountershafts, fixed supports in which the main shaftsand the bushingsare mounted, and

means for rotating the bushings for adjusting the counter- ADELBERTSAUER.

Witnesses:

M. P. SCHRANKLE, H. BUNGERT.

